Jess/Loch Ness.
“Ineed a beautiful woman on my arm,” Leon insisted.
“And you don’t have one of your floozies to ask?” Jess asked, amused.
“Jess,” Leon growled out.
“What’s it for?”
“A fundraiser for the homeless. Some do-gooder wants to open a new hostel.”
“Why not give them the money and avoid the event?” Jess demanded.
“Because it’s been eight weeks and you’re Miss Droopy-Drawers. Hell, Jess, I think even your Sin is depressed,” Leon retorted.
“That’s because the murdering little bastard didn’t get to set a pandemic off again!” Jess snapped.
Leon laughed. “Well, if you miss the guy that much, I could…” he wriggled his fingers, and Jess slapped him hard. Leon was insinuating about turning Mitch into gold. “What? You could keep him in your bedroom.”
“Sometimes I hate you!” she scowled.
Leon chuckled. “Put on a pretty dress, we’ll leave from my apartment. Be ready in six,” he ordered and walked away.
Jess flipped him the bird and stomped out of the castle. Oh hell! Three babies crawled towards her at speed with their parents chasing after them. A fourth waddled behind them unsteadily. Crap! Amari was walking.
Jess warily eyed Amari, who was known to sink her teeth in when hungry.
The little girl held her arms up. Yeah, Jess wasn’t falling for that.
“Jess! Grab them!” Jase yelled as the four suddenly split in different directions. He grabbed Balius, who, as usual, was in his Uber-Merman form. Moments later, Jase received a slap in the face from Balius’s tentacles. Balius glared at Jase, clearly challenging his father, and Jase shifted.
Jess laughed as Balius’s jaw dropped open as he stared at the far bigger version of himself. Amari changed direction and escaped Vladimir, who missed her by a finger’s breadth. Amari raced towards Jase and sank her teeth into his calf. Jase glanced down as Amari began spitting and hissing like a cat.
“Yeah, kidda, I don’t taste nice,” Jase gloated.
One of Jase’s tentacles held Balius aloft as the baby struggled to get free, and Jase searched for the missing pair. Duris and Raisa, who simultaneously attacked him, both shifted from Merforms to Uber-Merman. Raisa’s form looked more delicate but was just as tough.
She slapped her father hard, and when he picked her up with a tentacle, she sank her teeth in and gnawed. Raisa made little growling noises, which caused Jess to step back. That child wasn’t right. Duris hissed and spat like a scalded cat as Jase trapped him, too.
“Wow. Remind me to have my womb cut out,” Banshee said as she shifted into Liadun. Liadun shook her head in horror.
“I agree. They’d put anyone off having children,” Jess agreed.
Lanie and Mac appeared, Mac’s arm around her waist, and stopped. “Yeah, our kid won’t be like that!” Lanie stated.
Jess gaped at Lanie and began laughing. “Have you forgotten Calli’s early years? She was a freaking nightmare for the first century.”
“Wait, what?” Jase demanded.
“Well, it seems that all pregnancies are only for seven months, and the children until the age of two mature quickly. When they reach two, their ageing slows down, and it takes them about one hundred years to hit eighteen. If Callidora is a baseline, good luck,” Liadun said.
Lanie blanched. “Oh, crap!” She gazed at Mac with a wordless plea.
“It’ll be fine,” Mac soothed, rubbing her back.
Liadun began laughing hard. “Who are you fooling? Not only is that kid Lamia, but it’s also from a Saviour family. You two are screwed for the next hundred years!” Chortling her head off, Liadun walked away.
Jess looked at Lanie and Mac. “Yeah, you’re in trouble!” She was about to say more, but Drew chasing Shelley caught her attention.
